The Fundraising sector is full of people with broad and varied career experience, many of whom have made the leap from a previous career. Having joined the university development teams from different backgrounds within the last two years, Fiona, Emma and Dan share their insights and experiences of being new university fundraisers, working in Major Donor, Corporate, and Trusts and Foundations fundraising. This session will cover some of the key learning points they have taken from their early days as university fundraisers, as well as providing a space for reflection and discussion about how it feels to transition from one career into another.

Before each of these individuals achieved the success for which they are celebrated, all of them endured setbacks that did not anticipate the achievements they ultimately realised. Declines, deferrals and delays are all part of frontline fundraising but are rarely captured by the targets, metrics, and KPIs – or even acknowledged by managers. How do you move on when your first big meeting doesn’t go well, or you misspeak in front of a senior leader? What happens internally when the big proposal doesn’t save the day? Learning from setbacks is an important part of achieving high performance. This session will explore how we can we help front line fundraisers retain motivation and positivity when so much of our work may not (immediately) materialise as a gift. This panel will include the well-known athlete and Warwick alumna, Sarah Jane Perry who represented England and Great Britain at professional Squash. In addition, Professor Neil Stewart from Warwick Business School, a specialist in Behavioural Science, will share insight from his work on how investors' recover from mistakes that can have significant financial consequences. Each panellist will offer practical suggestions from their own perspectives on how to build back from professional disappointments.

Over the past couple of years, AI has found its way into all aspects of our lives and its application impacting on society in ways that couldn’t be imagined. The drive to innovate and push AI to the limit brings with it challenges to accessibility and inclusion.   In this workshop will explore how human biases can impact AI outputs, how AI can contribute to a growing digital divide, the importance of content accessibility in creating an inclusive AI experience, and how AI can be a force for good in creating an inclusive digital experience for our users.

Hosted by Imperial College London and Durham University, this joint presentation explores how working with alumni volunteers enhances global engagement and outreach. Through the co-creation of diverse programmes of events and social media activities, and collaboration with volunteers such as reunion organisers, both institutions have expanded their reach to wider alumni communities worldwide, strengthening connection and institutional pride - online and in-person.

FirstIgnite is an AI-powered platform that helps universities and research organisations accelerate partnerships, advancement, alumni engagement, and collaboration. It enables teams to: • Identify and connect with companies and alumni aligned with their institutional priorities • Match faculty expertise and technologies with industry needs • Discover relevant grants, investors, and collaboration opportunities • Automate outreach and track engagement through an integrated dashboard Our partners use FirstIgnite to double their ROI on engagement, triple partnership leads, and accelerate collaboration across academia, industry, and alumni networks.

The CASE Universities Marketing Forum (CASE UMF) is a community of UK higher education directors of marketing and communications, convened by CASE Europe and led by a Volunteer Executive Committee. This networking opportunity is for existing UMF members and anyone keen to learn more about how this group is supporting and advocating for marketing professionals in higher education. This meetup will be hosted by Dan Barcroft, Director Student Recruitment, Marketing and Admissions at the University of Sheffield and Chair of the CASE Universities Marketing Forum (UMF).

Meet data and insight professionals driving strategy and impact. Exchange practical approaches to data-informed decision-making and evidence-led storytelling. This meetup is hosted by Deborah Trumble, Senior Director of Research at CASE. Deborah will also be on hand to answer your data and CASE Insights questions.

We hear a lot about innovation, coming up with new ideas, finding solutions. But what does that mean for advancement professionals? In this session we will share some of our best ideas, and those we’ve stolen from others, that will enable you to deliver bigger and better results and make a real step-change at your organisation. From getting the basics right, to thinking like a sports team, to building mid-level donors, to securing transformational gifts, we’ll talk about long-term success, regardless of an organisation’s size or stage of development. You will hear real-world case studies that can be tailored to any organisation, helping fundraisers drive efficiency and effectiveness.

The increased focus on gift acceptance and the challenges it poses. Jennifer will lead a conversation on best practice approaches to due diligence and gift acceptance giving examples of how we are managing this at our respective institutions.